As known in the field of Wireless Personal. Area Networks (WPANs), efforts are made to integrate in a single device a wireless personal communication protocol with one or more communication protocols already supported by such device. Such integration may enable the single device to support one or more communications with a first reader device and a wireless personal communication with a second reader device. The terms “first and second reader device” are used generally, but it should be understood that they are capable of further data manipulation, i.e. not only for reading data but also, for example, writing or updating data.
More particularly, designers plan to integrate inside a single microchip of a single device, a radio controller supporting the wireless personal communication protocol and a microcontroller supporting the one or more communication protocols, increasing interconnection capability and functionalities of the single device. The single device could also comprise two or more separate controllers, for example, a radio controller supporting the wireless personal communication protocol and a separate microcontroller supporting the one or more communication protocols.
For example, the Integration Company provides a single universal serial bus (USB) Dongle device that is compliant to the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless personal communication protocol. The USB Dongle may be quickly and easily connected to a host computer through a standard USB protocol and it is typically connected to a second external device based upon a wireless personal communication protocol, for example, to a wireless router, coordinator, or end device.
In the field of IC cards, a handset reader device and an IC card inside it communicate through an ICC-handset communication protocol, according to the ISO 7816 and ETSI TS 11.11 specifications. It may be useful to provide the IC card with appositely hardware and/or software able to support a wireless personal communication protocol, thereby integrating interconnection capability of the handset-IC card communication protocol with the interconnection capability, generally low power, of the wireless personal communication.
Further, according to the ISO 7816 and ETSI TS 11.11 specifications, a communication protocol between the IC card and the handset cannot be disturbed by communications with other reader devices. At the present, it is not known how to implement a wireless personal communication protocol between an IC card and a second reader device, the IC card being included and in communication with the mobile handset and communicating with it according to a specific communication protocol, for example, the ISO 7816 and ETSI TS 11.11 specification.